Justice Minister announces legislative change to fight proliferation of pornographic images

Minister of Justice, Public Security and Immigration Tor Mikkel Wara (Progress Party).Photo: Terje Bendiksby / NTB scanpix

Justice Minister, Tor Mikkel Wara, warned of a change in the law to combat the illegal proliferation of nude images online. He believes the current law is too weak.

 

Next week, Wara, of Fremskrittsparti (Frp) will put forward a legislative proposal to clarify what is illegal.

‘’There should be no doubt about this. The amendment makes clear that both the photography, the spread of it, the demand for it, and the acquisition of such image material is illegal. In addition, the penalty level will be stricter,’’ he told VG newspaper.

He does not want to say anything concrete about the penalty level before the proposal is clarified, but said it will be sharpened, especially for adults who distribute illegal images professionally.

“At the same time, we also see that in some cases there has been a mild reaction to less professional distribution. Here, there have been fines where there should have been imprisonment,” said Wara.

He believes that the law has so far been too weak and unclear, and in some cases the penalties have been too lax.

‘’There is no doubt that we have legislation that should have been updated in many ways in terms of the new media available.That’s what we’ll go after,’’ he said.

The Justice Minister believes that the amendment will ensure that the police prioritise
these issues.

‘’These issues must be investigated and they should be prioritised. Punishing those who spread offensive images will create greater awareness that this is illegal, and that it can lead to severe responses from society,” said Wara.

 

© NTB scanpix / #Norway Today